If You're Thinking of Living in/Harrison; Luxurious Landlocked Corporate Haven

ITS borders stretch from White Plains to Mamaroneck and from Rye to Scarsdale. Within it are five private country clubs, a dozen international corporate headquarters, almost that many Italian restaurants, a college and one university, a Japanese high school, an airport and three major roadways.

Tucked in between are some of the most expensive residential neighborhoods in Westchester. Spacious $1 million homes on two acres are common; there are 38 estates on 10 or more acres plus three gatehouse communities and several more modest but well-defined residential areas.

Because of careful zoning, each area "has its own stamp," said Lottie Eisenberger, principal broker at the Harrison-based agency that bears her name. These range from the attractive starter homes of Avondale, which borders downtown, to the grand estates of Sterling Ridge.

"We are really in the center of all transportation," Ms. Eisenberger said. "Yet in minutes you can drive into any of these little streets, and it's another world."

Harrison is defined by more its neighborhoods than by its downtown. Local lore holds that the community is landlocked because of John Harrison and his horse. It is said that in 1696 the Siwanoy Indians agreed to sell as much land as a man could claim on a day's ride. Harrison decided not to waste time or get his horse's hooves wet by fording streams.

The land he claimed and named Harrison's Purchase had already been bought by two Rye residents, who, unlike Harrison, neglected to file their claim. Discovering they had been dispossessed, the Rye men were furious, setting up a rivalry that continues in a more pleasant form to this day.

The football rivalry between Rye and Harrison High Schools culminates every year in "The Game," which draws thousands; other thousands watch it on television.

"Football and our distinction from Rye is one of the captivating aspects of this community," said Harrison's School Superintendent, Ronald D. Valenti.

History produced a second rivalry. Much of the original purchase was in the northern part of Harrison, a section known as Purchase, now the site of much of the town's open space, corporate headquarters and the State University. Hoping to protect both their tax base and preserve the character of this estate area, Purchase residents tried three times to secede from the town.

After a narrow defeat in 1974, Harrison officials got legislative permission in 1975 to establish a coterminous town and village, one of only three in New York State. The Harrison Town Supervisor now doubles as Mayor of Harrison and Town Council members are also village trustees.

They oversee a town whose modern character was determined to a large extent by the arrival of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1870. The construction of the railroad attracted immigrant workers and the finished rail line brought in the wealthy, who commuted to New York. The commuters promptly bought large tracts, much of it owned today by men like Laurence A. Tisch, chairman of the Loews Corporation and CBS, and the financier John Loeb.

Most of the immigrant laborers were Italian and their descendants form the dominant population group in Harrison today, filling the neighborhoods around the downtown business area and in West Harrison.

In addition to such prominent former Harrison residents as Gov. Herbert A. Lehman, Amelia Earhart and John Barrymore, one man who left an important visual reminder of his tenure in Harrison was Whitelaw Reid, publisher of The New York Tribune.

His 700-acre farm, with its great stone mansion, Reid Hall, is now home to the 1,500-student Manhattanville College and to Keio Academy, a 420-student high school affiliated with Keio University in Tokyo.

In 1974, Reid Hall was was put on the National Register of Historic Places, the only such site in Harrison.

THE town's diversity is evident in the broad range of real estate options. About half of Harrison's residents live in one-family homes that range in price from $250,000 to $2.5 million. There are 500 co-op units, 195 condominiums and 360 rental apartments.

Sterling Ridge, with its Tudor and colonial homes on one- and two-acre lots, its winding roads and unusual contours, ranks high with prospective buyers, Mrs. Eisenberger said. Its homes, most within walking distance of the high school, range in price from $850,000 to $2 million.

Another sought-after neighborhood not far from the high school is Winfield Glen, with smaller Tudor and colonial houses that range from $375,000 to $700,000. It is similar to the more established Sunnyridge section, which is near downtown and within walking distance of the Harrison train station.

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Many people looking for homes give high priority to abutting or being near one of the five private golf courses. Homes surround the Westchester Country Club, host to the annual Westchester Golf Classic, on lots ranging from one-third to four acres. They are priced from $700,000 to $4 million. Most are on the circular drive winding through the one 9-hole and two 18-hole courses. Many are within sight of the eight-story clubhouse, built in 1922 by John Bowman, owner of the old Biltmore Hotel in Manhattan.

Harrison will soon have a sixth golf course, the first in Westchester being built simultaneously with a residential community. After two years of controversy and litigation, ground has been broken for The Country Club of Purchase, a 400-acre complex that will have 73 estate-style homes on one to three acres and a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus.

HICKORY PINE ASSOCIATES Limited Partnership, the Purchase-based developer, is selling lots of one to three acres. A homeowner association will be established once the prospectus is approved by the New York State Attorney General's office. The developer, who will set up an architectural review board, expects people to be moving in by this fall, even before the golf course is ready. A house and lot together, the developer says, will range in price from $1.5 million to $3.5 million, but he declined to specify lot prices.

Town taxes are among the lowest in Westchester thanks to multinational corporations, including the town's three largest taxpayers, Texaco, Pepsico and the International Business Machines Corporation.

"Whenever I build a tennis court in Harrison, Texaco pays for half of it," said Charles Balancia, Town Supervisor.

Harrison has eight parks, totaling 80 acres. In them can be found 14 tennis courts, three pools, playgrounds and basketball courts. The 48-acre West Harrison Memorial Park even has a mini-zoo, two lighted tennis courts and a bocci court. The town also has three libraries.

Across the road from the campus of Purchase College, SUNY, is Pepsico headquarters, on whose rolling lawns, open to the public, are 40 works of sculpture by, among other, Rodin, Calder and Nevelson. Pepsico pays for the upkeep of the sculpture, but the town pays for other park amenities, and it is beginning to hurt, Mr. Balancia said, as tax appeals have reduced town tax rolls by $20 million in the last three years.

The corporate presence has been a mixed blessing for other reasons, Mr. Balancia said, prompting a sharp change in development patterns. "We have upzoned our residential land to make it more exclusive and in the process, we have boxed out the average purchaser," he said.

Mr. Balancia's strong support for an affordable housing project in West Harrison developed by Andrew Cuomo, the Governor's son and director of policies on homelessness for the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, created intense voter resentment last year and helped defeat his bid for a seat on the Town Council in November.

Town officials are also concerned about the shabby condition of the downtown commercial district, which even local realtors agree is an eyesore. Joan Walsh, the Town Clerk, calls Harrison "the invisible town" and says it "has no decent shopping area."

"People prefer to go to Rye or White Plains," she said.

But Harrison residents do flock to the downtown and to the business district in West Harrison to eat, Mrs. Walsh said. Among the more popular downtown restaurants is Emilio's, for fish and northern Italian cuisine. The Silver Spoon, a converted diner, is a popular lunchtime spot offering specialty sandwiches.

In West Harrison, diners have a choice of several Italian restaurants, including Via Appia, Michelangelo's and Casarella's and Portuguese cuisine at Aquario.

Without a defined downtown, Harrison residents find a community identity and spirit in their four elementary schools, the Louis M. Klein Middle School and the Harrison High School with its 45- acre campus. Last year, the district enrolled 2,550 students and spent $32 million on their education. Of the 153 members of the senior class, 85 percent went on to college.

The high school offers a pre-law program, nine advanced-placement courses and astronomy studies, for which it has its own planetarium. Music is important at both the high school and the middle school; there is a 125-member performing band at the upper level and two separate bands in the middle school.

Each of the four k-5 elementary schools offer all-day kindergartens, well-equipped computer labs and remedial and enrichment programs in science and reading.

No place in town is more than a 15-minute drive from the campus of the Purchase College, SUNY, with four theaters and the Neuberger Museum, noted for its collection of modern art.

Correction:

Because of an editing error, a column on Jan. 16, "If You're Thinking of Living in Harrison," misstated the town's relationship with the sculpture garden at Pepsico headquarters. The town does not contribute to maintaining the sculpture garden.

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A version of this article appears in print on January 16, 1994, on Page 10010005 of the National edition with the headline: If You're Thinking of Living in/Harrison; Luxurious Landlocked Corporate Haven. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe